Kessler Krank™ Sneak Peek

C

Chris Beller

Kessler Crane
We have posted a quick and dirty demo of the Kessler Krank™ slider prototype over at our YouTube channel . The Krank™ will have a crank handle for smooth consistent pans, but can also be used just like your typical manual slider. We should also be releasing our version of a manual slider in the next month, as well.

In other news, we have just finished our Kessler Crane® Promo DVD. You can view the DVD on our website by clicking the link in the menu on the top left, or by going here Kessler Crane® Online DVD .

Be sure to stay tuned, because we have all kinds of things in the works for 2009!

Thanks!
Chris
 
Opps! It's late and I mistakenly put this in the Press Releases. If this would be better suited in the general News area, please feel free to move it. Thanks and sorry
 
interesting. The tilt/slide is a pretty cool shot. I'd love to see that from the cameras perspective.
 
Looks pretty slick, what's the maximum weight it's projected to handle? It would be great if it could handle a 35mm adapter-equipped rig...
 
Thanks. We're still working out all the specs, as we do our testing. We just wanted to let you all see what we are working, to see what you thought.

The weight of a 35mm adapter rig itself should not be a problem, it's the torq that would be put on the track, if the rig is not centered properly that could cause issues.

Any other thoughts, questions, input? We build these products for all of you, so we always welcome your feedback, so we can give you the best tools we can.
 
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Just the weight issue, especially if the camera is completely on one side of the bars, will it cause some shift in angle from the tripod plate, etc..
 
Correct, we are shooting for $4-500, all depending on final manufacturing costs. We're going to do all we can to keep the price as low as possible. Thanks
 
Chris Beller said:
Thanks. We're still working out all the specs, as we do our testing. We just wanted to let you all see what we are working, to see what you thought.

The weight of a 35mm adapter rig itself should not be a problem, it's the torq that would be put on the track, if the rig is not centered properly that could cause issues.

Any other thoughts, questions, input? We build these products for all of you, so we always welcome your feedback, so we can give you the best tools we can.
Click to expand...

We just shot with a RED ONE on an indieslider this week. You might give some thought to making it handle even more weight. I think the RED rig weighs in around 25lbs. Real smooth on the slider but not sure about the crank or those tilts. But I know that the DP I worked with will likely want to keep working with it. These things are a real time-savers for tons of small dolly moves, so it wouldn't hurt to start thinking heavier loads for the RED crowd.

Also, the ends are the weak points of these things. You always have to prop them up with light stands or something. Do you have any plans to make some kind of hole or bolt to put supports in? Like maybe a standard something to mount a monopod on each end, or a standard for some kind of bolt you can put on a light stand...?

Just throwing out thoughts at you. LOVE your stuff.
 
Thanks for the feedback Mark. We'll definitely be putting it though some stress tests to make sure we know how much weight it can handle, and ensure it is stable. Point about the RED crowd is taken, and we'll certainly be checking that out.
 
I have a few suggestions. It would be great if the wheel had similar functionality to an Arri gear head. You should be able to disengage it so that when you're pushing the thing manually the wheel doesn't spin like crazy. Also, if there were three settings to control the distance one revolution of the wheel pulls, you could much easier and more accurately control your moves. It would be especially awesome if you could pop the wheel out and put it into the other side - similar to many follow focus knobs. I can foresee many situations where controls on only one side would be problematic.

The last suggestion is to incorporate a ball mount. This would greatly improve compatibility with professional heads and would make the transition from tripod to slider-on-tripod a lot faster.
 
If you end up adding a motorized option down the line as suggested in the YouTube comments, I'd add repeatable gear stops -- that would provide the basis for a pretty sweet basic motion control setup.
 
@ Noah -
When using manually, because the wheel is balanced, you won't get any vibration when it spins, if that is the concern. However, the wheel will most likely be removable, so if you really want it off in manual mode, you can remove it.

Also, there is no need to move the wheel to the other side, if you want control it with the other hand. You just flip your camera and rig around.

@ TwistedLincoln - Interesting idea to think about. Thanks
 
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